Photographer Won’t Do Photo Shoot with Teen Girls Who Bully on Facebook

A Pennsylvania photographer won’t take graduation portraits for 4 high school bullies who she found making very mean spirited comments about other students on a ‘slambook’ style facebook page.

Indiana County photographer Jennifer McKendrick turned down 4 prospective clients who had booked photo sessions after learning that the teen girls were high school bullies.

McKendrick stumbled across the bullying while browsing through facebook and finding a local ‘slambook’ page that had been set up only to denigrate certain students. She then realized that 4 of the meanest contributors to the page were actually students who had booked photo sessions with her for graduation pictures.

McKendrick emailed the 4 girls and their parents and explained her refusal to do the shoot and provided screenshots of the bullying as proof of the behavior. Two of the parents emailed her back with apologies.

Explaining her actions, the photographer wrote on her blog, “how could I spend two hours with someone during our session trying to make beautiful photos of them knowing they could do such UGLY things. Realistically, I know by canceling their shoots it's not going to make them 'nicer people' but I refuse to let people like that represent my business."

McKendrick says she has been prepared for criticism for her actions but that most of the comments to her blog have actually been very supportive of her decision. She says she’s surprised, in fact, by how much attention she’s received for her stand against nasty behavior, explaining, "All I said was, ‘You were mean -- I don't want to have my business associated with you.' It wasn't some anti-bullying rally."

We tend to associate bullying with the behavior of children and not adults, but the same dynamics from social circles in middle school and high school are perpetuated amongst a high percentage of adults. Overcoming bullying requires both internal and external changes.